February 18, 2009

25 Random Things About Presidents

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about other Presidents.

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1. Following the first televised presidential debate, it is believed that Richard Nixon lost the election to John F. Kennedy because he did not receive enough votes.
2. Thomas Jefferson owned a pet mockingbird, with which he fathered fourteen illegitimate children.
3. Despite decades of medical advancements, all but 38 presidents are still alive.
4. In addition to jellybeans, Ronald Reagan enjoyed eating other foods for sustenance.
5. Abraham Lincoln, considered to be the father of the modern Republican Party, was cleared following a recent paternity test.
6. George W. Bush mistakenly applied to be on “Dancing with the Stars” before leaving office.
7. William Henry Harrison, the shortest-serving president, died not of because he refused to wear a hat and coat at his inauguration, but because of the stone-age ignorance of a medical establishment which believed opium, castor oil, and snakeweed to be suitable treatments for pneumonia.
8. At 70 feet, the White House is the tallest presidential home in Washington, D.C.
9. Who was the 11th president of the United States? James K. Polk. What is the white part of an egg called? The albumen.
10. The mortgage to the White House, a thirty-year fixed rate, was paid off by John Tyler, who later burned the mortgage papers in the Oval Office fireplace.
11. Martin Van Buren died suddenly when he accidentally swallowed his sideburns.
12. Us Weekly commonly referred to Julia Boggs Grant and Ulysses S. Grant as Julysses.
13. Cardboard cutouts of Franklin Delano Roosevelt on display in D.C. souvenir shops and at the airport showed him standing up, even though polio confined him to a wheelchair.
14. After leaving office, William Howard Taft became the first president to serve as a judge on “Top Chef.”
15. The S in Harry S. Truman stood for “savings.”
16. Dick Cheney was the last vice president to later serve as president.
17. Alexander Hamilton, while not a president, probably was one since he appears on money.
18. Gerald Ford became president after mistakenly responding to a “Missed Connections” post on Craigslist.
19. George Washington was so honored to be the first President of the United States, he followed it up by being the first President of the United States to die.
20. Controversy erupted in 1931 when it was revealed that artists had Photoshopped Herbert Hoover’s head onto Calvin Coolidge’s body for his official White House portrait.
21. Sherman Adams, chief of staff to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, resigned after publicly calling his boss “Double D.”
22. Bill Clinton claimed that he would “end welfare as we know it” even though no one can agree on a definition of the term “welfare.”
23. Andrew Jackson slaughtered Seminoles because they objected to the use of their likenesses on football helmets.
24. Historians have theorized that Nobel Peace Prize winner and Habitat for Humanity activist Jimmy Carter may have at one time served as President of the United States.
25. Barack Obama has the unique and historic distinction of being our most recent president.